This week's assignment in CTIN542 to start thinking about ourselves, our current state of progress, our thesis, and reasons we might fail in the process of developing and executing our thesis. As a prompt we were asked to visit the the World Press 08 exhibit at the Annenberg School, choose a photograph that resonates with our Thesis ideas.
This photograph by Christoph Bangert shows a German training exercise for troops in Afghanistan. The disparities between the natural landscape and the training poster, to me represents what happens many times in games that aim to represent content in the real world. The result often has more to do with the designer's own world view than the realities of the situation. The image represents what I would not want to do with my thesis
Thesis Idea 1) a game that explains the current economic crisis - a 5-15 minute experience that would give you the same information and level of understanding that reading a print article or watching a news package would. This idea is currently the front runner. My hope is that it would be faithful to the realities of the content, and would give a 'reality-check' on what it means to be 'middle-class' in 2009/2010.
This image by Olivier Culmann represents the communal and universal experience of getting immersed in narrative. The images taken from different places in the world speak to the power of television. I am deeply interested in how that power gets transferred with the rise of new media.
Thesis Idea 2) trans-media narratives that use multiple platforms, exploring what is the optimal narrative potential of mobile, webisodes, forums, games, blogs. ie: Taking the example of "Heroes Evolutions", what parts of that story are best told through the tv show, or the graphic novel, or the games, or the webisodes?
Thesis Idea 3) using multiple screens to illustrate causal relationships in a branching narrative. If you could see discrete moments in time simultaneously across multiple screens, how would that effect your understanding of causal relationships in a narrative or effect the choices you make to influence the narrative?
Three technologies to learn -
1) Flash
2) iPhone Apps
3) VXML, or other mobile technology that can initiate/receive calls and SMS messages
We were also asked to create a 'photo-journalistic' image of our current selves as we would remember ourselves 5 years in the future...(still not really sure what this means.)
This photo represents how I might look back on my graduate school experience. I feel pretty isolated and like I'm not really enjoying my experience, being in school, being in LA as much as I should. Perhaps I'm taking things too seriously, I'm too wrapped up in my own thoughts... This assignment made me think of something Oprah Winfrey said, "...I weep for the woman I was in my 20s." Five years from now, I don't want to feel like the best is behind me, but rather that the best is yet to come. I accept that I may stumble through this period in my life with the hope that better things are on the horizon.. Which brings me to the next assignment -- reasons I (or anyone for that matter) might fail in the next 18 months...
GENERAL
-Fuzzy ideas – not concrete
-Under/overestimating scope of project
-Not creating a digital prototype early enough
-Not having enough crew
-Not knowing how to manage your crew
-Poor time management
-Inability to communicate/articulate your idea to other
-Inability to get others excited or interested in your idea
-Doing something that’s been done
-Not setting the bar high enough
-Setting the bar too high
-Not asking critical questions
-Not listening to critiques from others
-Not listening to advisors
-Losing interest, losing passion
PERSONAL
-Giving in to family pleas to come home to Chicago (because no work gets done in Chicago)
-Balancing (or not balancing) work and personal life
-Not working with a skilled programmer
-Choosing something that is important and relevant, over than something I’m personally passionate about
-Not taking time to take care of myself, keeping healthy, getting enough sleep, eating well, exercise, etc...